Our Opinion: Oil and gas rigs: Sure bet for our future

It’s easy to see what’s behind you. Just check the rearview mirror of your car, the pages of yesterday’s newspaper — or what’s inside hundreds of history books.

But knowing what’s ahead, now there’s a challenge — and something that most people are at least curious about.

• Should I fill up the tank today, or hope that gasoline prices go down tomorrow?

• Is today a good day to sell stock or buy more?

• Should I accept a bonafide offer to buy my home, or take a chance and wait for a better one?

• And the big question for today: Patriots or Giants in the Super Bowl?

Outlook 2012, a 68-page magazine published with today’s Times-Reporter, may

not answer all of the above questions, but it does lay out what’s ahead for the Tuscarawas Valley in some key areas.

A safe bet — far more of a sure thing than picking either New England or New York in today’s football game — is that more oil and natural gas rigs are on our horizon.

In today’s Outlook edition, people close to the drilling activity predict that the oil and gas boom will bring 10,000 jobs to Tuscarawas County before all is said and done.

One of the biggest players in the industry, Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy, plans to eventually drill 12,000 new wells in eastern Ohio, with 20 rigs operational before the year is out.

Drilling activity, which is just getting started in the Tuscarawas Valley, is something that will last for decades.

Long range, its likely impact is being compared to the coming of the Ohio & Erie Canal in the early 19th century, arrival of railroads in the late 19th century, development of steel, coal and clay industries in the early 20th century, and construction of I-77 in the mid-20th century.

It has already brought new-found wealth to owners of large tracts of land after the sale of mineral rights.

And in the short term, hundreds of new jobs from the drilling industry are coming into our market, and are expected to reduce the local unemployment rate to 5 percent or lower by the end of this year.

Its impact will be far-reaching, changing our landscape as we know it. With safeguards in place to protect against environmental problems, our hope is that it will be a positive transformation, giving this region a much-needed economic lift.